How Rihanna Is Helping Girls In Malawi Get To School

RIHANNA’s Clara Lionel Foundation has teamed up with Ofo, a Beijing-based bike-share initiative, to help young girls in Malawi get to school.

The five-year partnership, called “1 KM Action”, will help fund the non-profit organisation’s Global Scholarship Programme, as well as donating bikes to the recipients to combat some of the regional transportation challenges contributing to Malawi’s high drop-out rates. Although 4.6 million children attend primary school in Malawi, only 8 per cent complete secondary education. The drop-out rate is higher for girls, for various reasons, transportation being one of them.

"I'm so happy about the Clara Lionel Foundation's new partnership with Ofo because it will help so many young people around the world receive a quality education, and also help the young girls of Malawi get to school safely, cutting down those very long walks they make to and from school all alone," Rihanna said of the initiative, which has already sent its first set of bikes to Malawi.

The pop star visited Malawi earlier this year with the Global Partnership for Education to find out how she could help “build a better educational future for Malawians”. In a video showing footage of her trip, she shared: "It's such a pity that they have to drop out, because they are so smart. It's sad that has to end for some of them, because they could probably do so much if they had the resources to continue and complete."